Maison Benoît Labre confirms that the opening of the first supervised drug inhalation center in Montreal will indeed take place at the beginning of 2024 in the Saint-Henri district, in the southwest of Montreal.
The project proposes a concept that is said to be innovative, because it integrates a set of community and local services for vulnerable populations in the area, including a day center open 24/7, transitional housing and two supervised consumption cubicles.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the general director of the organization, Andréane Désilets, specifies that users will be able to consume by injection, inhalation or ingestion according to their needs. It is a first supervised consumption center in this sector of the metropolis, but above all a first resource offering supervised inhalation in Montreal.
Maison Benoît Labre indicates that it has obtained all the necessary authorizations to start its operations. All that remains is to complete the work on fitting out the premises. The opening is expected to take place towards the end of January or the beginning of February.
The housing component will include 36 studios intended for homeless people struggling with addiction and mental health problems. Nutritious meals, medical care and social activities will also be offered to clients.
All the apartments have already been allocated to people in need who have committed to taking a personal approach by setting certain objectives. The clientele is mixed and around a third of the accommodation will be occupied by women.
The direction of Maison Benoît Labre, she explains, is to promote the empowerment and development of residents’ skills, with a view to long-term residential stability. This long-term project has been in development since 2015.
Opposition
However, the arrival of this new community resource has aroused opposition for several months in the neighborhood, in particular from parents of some 300 students at Victor-Rousselot primary school, which is located less than 100 meters from the future Benoît Labre House.
Several of those parents said they recognize the importance of expanding services to unhoused people, but they question why a drug consumption site was allowed to open so close to the school.
“We set up a good neighborly committee to be able to have channels of communication with our neighbors, where we can take the time to explain certain details more concretely and I think that really promotes understanding of the project,” explains Andréane Désilets, admitting to having poorly communicated the approach at the start.
“There are more and more people who consume outside and who take risks for their health or their safety and we must, as a society, think differently,” she continues. We have to answer that. »
Among other measures aimed at minimizing the impact of Maison Benoît Labre on the surrounding area, we are planning a neighborhood cleaning brigade, a full-time worker dedicated to ensuring harmonious coexistence with the primary school and the distance from the main entrance to the new campus building.
For his part, the municipal councilor who represents the neighborhood, Craig Sauvé, pointed out that there was no ideal place for sites that help people escape chronic homelessness or deal with drug use. chronic drug addiction.
No attendance expected
Although the service offering of the new facilities at Maison Benoît Labre includes the very first place for supervised inhalation, the general director does not expect a large number of customers.
“People won’t travel for that. When it is the resource that we know, in our neighborhood, of course we will be more inclined to use the services,” she mentions, adding simply to expect that her current clientele and the population of the South-West benefit from a new option.
Furthermore, Andréane Désilets emphasizes that other resources are preparing to set up their own supervised inhalation service offering.
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